| Man must treat the beasts of this land as his | | | | of where I live in the Scottish Highlands.That the |
| brothers. | | | | Vikings had a respect for the strength and |
| What is man without the beasts? | | | | sagacity of wolves is evidenced by the names |
| If all the beasts were gone, | | | | given to ancient Nordic kings - Beowulf, |
| Man would die from a great loneliness of spirit. | | | | Beadowulf, Wulfstan, etc. Even ealier is the legend |
| For whatever happens to the beasts, | | | | of Romulus and Remus. The twins were found |
| also happens to the man. | | | | abandoned on the banks of the Tiber by a |
| All things are connected. | | | | she-wolf, who fed them with her milk. When they |
| Chief Seattle | | | | grew up, Romulus built the city of Rome on the |
| Speech of 1854Most people are now aware that | | | | spot where the wolf had found them. Although no |
| we have some serious environmental issues | | | | evidence to support the story has come down to |
| facing us in the next few decades. The recent | | | | us, there are plenty of authenticated stories of |
| tsunami in Indonesia was a tragic reminder of the | | | | similar incidents, including three from Lucknow in |
| fragile balance of nature. There is nothing much | | | | India dated from 1844, 1954 and 1976.One man |
| we can do to stop these kind of events | | | | who was centuries ahead of his time as a |
| happening, except to install early warning systems. | | | | protector of animals was the Italian priest who |
| But global warming can be stopped or slowed | | | | became the patron saint of animals and the |
| down if and when we stop using fossil fuels and | | | | environment. Francis of Assisi was very much a |
| turn to renewable energy sources. The | | | | lone voice, at one point pleading with the people |
| technology is being developed or already exists; | | | | of Gubbio to feed the notorious wolf which had |
| wind and wave power, hydrogen fuel and nuclear | | | | been ravaging their flocks. His insight was all the |
| fusion.What can never be reversed if we let it | | | | more profound considering the relentless cruelty |
| happen is the loss of the diversity of life on our | | | | with which 'Brother Wolf', as Saint Francis called |
| small, green and blue planet. The list of | | | | him, has been persecuted in the past fifteen |
| endangered species is growing all the time. | | | | hundred years.In Anglo-Saxon times January was |
| Environmental awareness has been a long time | | | | set aside especially for hunting wolves. It was |
| coming. In a way we are the victims of our own | | | | known as wolfmonat or wolf month. Medieval |
| success, at least in the West. Population growth | | | | folk-lore is full of stories about devil-wolves with |
| makes it ever more difficult to preserve the | | | | dripping jaws and evil, slitty eyes. There are |
| wilderness areas which are so necessary for the | | | | woodcuts of wolves with cloven hooves, carrying |
| survival of wildlife.When I was a boy in Scotland, I | | | | off little children, and there are children's stories |
| was fond of everything that was wild... | | | | like Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, |
| I loved to wander in the fields to hear the birds | | | | and various tales about were-wolves. |
| sing, | | | | The subject of all these stories must indeed be a |
| and along the shore to gaze and wonder at the | | | | ferocious animal, but in fact there is no |
| shells and the seaweeds, | | | | authenticated instance of anyone being attacked |
| eels and crabs in the pools when the tide was | | | | by a wolf. I don't say it couldn't happen; I just say |
| low; | | | | you're more likely to be struck by lightning.That it |
| and best of all to watch the waves in awful | | | | is possible for people and wolves to live in the |
| storms thundering | | | | same world has been demonstrated by the |
| on the black headlands and craggy ruins of old | | | | various wolf programs on-going in north-west |
| Dunbar Castle. | | | | Montana, the Yellowstone area, Central Idaho and |
| John MuirThe first modern environmentalists, in a | | | | North Carolina. There is also a scheme, backed by |
| general way, were probably Ralph Waldo Emerson | | | | Greenpeace and various politicians to re-instate |
| and Henry Thoreau, but the man who made a | | | | the wolf in certain areas of the Scottish Highlands. |
| deep and practical impact was a Scot named John | | | | In the U.S. ranchers are being re-imbursed for any |
| Muir. He was born in 1838 in Dunbar, not very far | | | | livestock losses - which are surprisingly light - by |
| from where I was born, and he left Scotland for | | | | an organisation called Defenders of Wildlife. This is |
| California at the age of twenty-eight. He called | | | | what they say on their website:'Some of the |
| himself a 'poetico-trampo-geologist-botanist and | | | | nation's most prominent biologists have estimated |
| ornithologist-naturalist'. Today he is known as the | | | | that protecting habitat for wide-ranging preditors |
| father of America's national parks. On August 5th, | | | | such as wolves will conserve 90% or more of |
| 2004, former President Bill Clinton said of him, | | | | overall biological diversity. Because wolves can |
| "One of the Americans who inspired Theodore | | | | require home ranges of several hundred square |
| Roosevelt to conserve our national forests was | | | | miles, their conservation can help to preserve a |
| the naturalist John Muir, who once said, | | | | host of other species making use of the same |
| 'Everybody needs beauty as well as bread - | | | | habitat.'It was the 'Defenders' organisation which |
| places to play in and pray in, where nature may | | | | led the successful fight to restore the gray wolf |
| heal and give strength to body and soul'. In | | | | to it's former habitat in Yellowstone Park, and |
| today's fast-paced, high-tech world, Muir's words | | | | they are currently battling against recent legislation |
| are even more compelling".Another influential | | | | in Alaska to allow the 'hunting' of wolves from |
| writer was Henry Beston. In 1928, after spending | | | | light aircraft and snowmobiles. This degrading and |
| a year in a small wooden house on the Great | | | | inhumane practice was banned in 1972 until last |
| Outer Beach of Cape Cod, he wrote an inspiring | | | | year, and ignores the weight of scientific thinking. |
| little book called 'The Outermost House', which | | | | It has received widespread public opposition. |
| contained the following passage:We need another | | | | Alaskans have voted against aircraft assisted wolf |
| and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept | | | | hunting twice; in 1996 and 2000.Killing wild wolves |
| of animals. Remote from universal nature, and | | | | is supposed to boost the numbers of caribou and |
| living by complicated artifice, man in civilization | | | | moose for the benefit of hunters, but biologists |
| surveys the creature through the glass of his | | | | say that the larger prey species elude wolves |
| knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified | | | | 97% of the time, and that by eliminating sick and |
| and the whole image in distortion. We patronize | | | | old animals, predation actually strengthens the |
| them for their incompleteness, for their tragic | | | | gene pool.Richard Fiennes, the distinguished U.K. |
| fate of having taken form so far below | | | | scientist and biologist has summed up the case |
| ourselves.And therein we err, and greatly err. For | | | | for the wolf as follows:The wolf appears to retain |
| the animal shall not be measured by man. In a | | | | a respect for human beings, and is reluctant to |
| world older and more complete than ours they | | | | attack them. Not so man, who now fears and |
| move finished and complete, gifted with | | | | abominates the wolf and does all in his power to |
| extensions of the senses we have lost or never | | | | destroy him. Alas, he fails to recognize in the |
| attained, living by voices we shall never hear.They | | | | wolf's descendants, whom he has domesticated, |
| are not brethren, they are not underlings; they | | | | the great virtues and loveable characters of the |
| are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net | | | | ancestral wolf. If wolves must become extinct in |
| of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour | | | | some areas, let us yet give what honour is due |
| and travail of the earth. | | | | to him where we can. |
| The Outermost House | | | | The old traditions of this gentle creature's |
| Henry Beston My own special interest is the | | | | savagery and ferocity linger on, and man's hand is |
| wolf, that most misunderstood of all animals. | | | | against him, even when he does no harm. There |
| Down the ages wolves have been the subject of | | | | are still enormous regions of the world, in America |
| much fear, hatred and mis-information and yet, of | | | | and Russia, where he can be left unmolested; let |
| all the larger predators it is the least harmful to | | | | him so remain. |
| people. In a way, we know more about the | | | | The Order of Wolves |
| character of wolves than we do about our | | | | Richard FiennesWhen I look at my dogs, I see a |
| closest relatives - the great apes - because their | | | | wolf, |
| descendants are all around us, lolling about in front | | | | and when I look at a wolf, I see my dogs. |
| of the fire, or digging holes in the garden.And yet | | | | James Donaldson CollinsJames Donaldson Collins is |
| the wolf has been hunted and persecuted almost | | | | an artist and writer. He lives in the Scottish |
| to the edge of extinction. There have been no | | | | Highlands with his wife, daughter and three dogs. |
| wolves in Britain for 300 years. The last one was | | | | His paintings of wolves, dogs and other animals |
| probably killed at Helmsdale, some 40 miles north | | | | can be seen on his portraits website. |